Gentrification Speech

When it comes to “gentrification” others wonder what it really is and how it affects many people, especially a specific “kind” of people. To further explain, why is it that gentrification only targets people of color at most? Moreover, how does the process of gentrification work and why it works in a way that it will only harm the ones that are targeted? Gentrification is a systematic process where people of color in urban areas are displaced and forced out of their homes due to capitalistic greed and racism.

In Ajay Panicker’s article “Gentrification” he explains how and why gentrification works the way it does to target people of color who lives on the low end of the socioeconomic status. To simply put, gentrification is a process where companies or private realtors out buy properties

Gentrification goes through a process of steps that starts with the government. Gentrification starts when the government funds public infrastructure that creates “room” for private investors to buy these buildings. By that, government-funded construction companies tear down and demolish buildings in the inner-city that take up space and if they are not aesthetically pleasing for the public; obviously, these buildings are not creating enough or any tax revenue. The government depends on gentrification to create more taxes because they know that wealthier citizens can pay property taxes and that brings in more revenue that goes directly back into the public. It may seem like it is a good process, however, it harms minorities. This is just a never-ending cycle of private companies buying out ghettos, which displaces minorities because they do not have the funds to live in more high-end places, and that now makes them homeless. This process of removing people from their homes for capital is pure greed—it disproportionately affects them and puts them at a disadvantage in society.